SW Florida Real Estate Market Updates & News

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Monthly Archives: July 2006

Star Power Systems was founded by Howard Brinton, a top agent in real estate sales in Colorado, and the premier education provider for real estate professionals everywhere.

The Star Power Conference will be held July 19-22 in New York City at the Marriott Marquis hotel. Howard began a series of audiotape interviews with top producing brokers and agents around the country, and "STARS" were born. Since then, he has conducted more than 18,000 hours of research and one-on-one interviews with more than 300 leading producers.

Brett Ellis will be presenting in Thursday morning’s general keynote session entitled "Road Warrior Technology." Brett will be presenting among other things his extensive use of Blogging through a company called Real Estate Blogsites. Real Estate Blogsites is a recommended supplier for Star Power’s attendees because it helps them get their message out, and attain top search engine rankings.

Brett is a regular speaker for Star Power Systems. "I like meeting with other Top Agents in the industry." It invogorates us, we always come back pumped up, and we’re glad to share top secrets with other top agents. Star Power has done wonders for our career, and we always enjoy giving back to other agents, just as others have done for us. Go Star Power! Together, we all win!

The numbers just may not work for developer WCI Communinites to develop downtown Ft. Myers. It’s frustrating to a developer when the city keeps changing the rules, it may be more in keeping with what the community wants and what will ultimately make downtown thrive and prosper.

Downtown Fort Myers needs an infusion of progress sooner rather than later though, so it would be a setback if WCI does indeed pullout.

Hank Fishkind, a noted Florida economist predicts good things for SW Florida due to several factors. The regional airport, Florida Gulf Coast University, and others.

Hank does see a housing bubble though due to high inventory of homes and condos. Hank predicts a 2-3 year wait for prices to really rise again as we work through all the new inventory. Others believe the inventory will be absorbed much quicker than what Hank believes, including us.

We’re seeing sales picking up again, and that stats are proving it. We look for sales to gradually increase in the 2nd half of 2006, which will be a reverse from the 2nd half ofd 2005 where sales decreased in the second half. Sales in Fort Myers have been strobger than in Cape Coral.

Each market in SW Florida real estate has a sub market, and it’s important to know how each sub market is performing when bringing a home to market, or when purchasing.

WCI Communities announced it is laying off employees nationwide due to a slowdown in home building. While official numbers were not released, it is speculated that approximately 400 employees will be laid off, and perhaps 40 or so in the Fort Myers arrea.

WCI Communities is known for building communities such as Gateway, Gulf Harbour, Pelican Landing, Pelican Bay, Pelican Sound, and Wildcat Run. Current communities include Tiburon, Tuscany Reserve, The Colony, The Seasons, and others.

Company forecasts are for a slower year for new home sales. Only 3 towers will be released for sale instead of the anticipated 11.

Nationwide Insurance recently requested a 71% rate hike, citing higher re-insurance costs to cover major catastrophies. State Farm recently requested a 79% hike, but now says that won’t be enough and has withdrawn the offer.

We’ve been working hard on our State of the Market Report mid year edition. Because the market has changed so dramatically, we’ve decided to update this report mid year instead of the annual production.

We’ll look at inventory levels, number of agents, sales levels today compared to past years, and offer commentary on where the market may be headed. We’ll cover What’s Hot and What’s Not, and we’ll dispell some myths.

We’re not ready to announce the actual release date yet, so check back here often. You may even wish to subscribe to our RSS feeds so you’ll be the first to know the release date.

Also, be sure to tune into "The Future of Real Estate" Staurday mornings at 11:00 on AM 1240 in Lee County and AM 1270 in Naples.